Privacy with Gmail + imap + BIS

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Will gmail messages that I send and receive through my blackberry device be visible to my company's IT department remotely? I don't work near my office so I will have ample notice if they want the phone back but I wanted to know if everyday gmail messages through the BIS using imap will be visible to my company's IT department through their connection to the Blackberry (BES or otherwise).

I don't believe so but another BES Pro may know better than I. You can simply delete the account and service books before returning the phone and be fine. Keep in mind there is always residual data that can be recovered from memory, etc but that takes some work and tools. You can always wipe the phone real quick before returning it also. Yahoo, Gmail etc should not be available to your IT Staff just because your on BES. It's been awhile but I did have the Pearl and used both BIS and BES at the same time. I don't recall finding anything that alarmed me. Keep in mind BES has since been improved and i'm not for sure what the newer versions can do now.

I believe that the BES admins have full access to the device. If you have gmail messages stored in any of the folders (the gmail folder or the messaging folder, plus saved messages) a BES admin can probably read them. I don't think they have access to the gmail java applet. As long as the BIS messages are not routed through a company cell phone account (i.e. you have your own account with a service provider like Sprint or Verizon), they should not have access to any of the messaging logs or messages from your service provider. So yes, I think they can read whatever is actually on the device at the time they access it (except for the gmail java applet). If you're on a company BES, then there will be logs of all messages.There is the possibility of a BES admin doing a remote backup of the device, which would probably copy the java applet, and the stored user name and password, doing a restore on a different device, and being able to access your gmail through the applet (if you have the user name and password stored in it. ).

If your BES admins have network security policies that get pushed out to the phone (most do), then remember that your internet traffic from the phone is also visible to the BES admins, and the network admins.

In short, if you're on anything that connects to a company network, don't do anything you don't want the company to be able to monitor. Even using a company VPN on a personal machine uses the companies' network when connected to the VPN.

Didn't know it would make a difference, but its my phone and my plan with Verizon, but they manage the phone through the BES and apply company policy. I am aware everything on the phone is monitored, but I was under the impression that gmail through the BIS would not be monitored. It sounds like with the BES, they can monitor all emails?